PD6 with CF card and a partition reader program - it works now!

[Daniel Bohm]

Hi Everyone!

 

We began to assemble a program that can read all the partitions on the drive of the old pd6.

 

It works. Now we have a software that reads all partitions on the internal disk (or memory card) of the pd6.

We want to change the hd to cf or sd card, remove the dvd ram (it's consumption is too much...) and make the pd6 a memory card recorder. The other option is to keep the dvd ram as the second, backup media. 

 

The partitions size can not be changed (24 minutes of 6 track bwf 24/48 on each 1,4 Gb partition) but you will be able to simply use a memory card in the pd6 and a laptop with the software to read all partitions and files recorded  by the pd6. 

On the recording media (HD, CF, SD, etc.) there can be as many 1,4 Gb partitions as the media's size enables it, no more juggling with the dvd rams... And as we all remember pd6 can easily change between partitions during recording, it just splits the take to two parts in the second (sample) the partition is changing. 

 

We already have the program that can read all the partitions of the hard drive comes from the pd6 it just needs a user friendly look.

 

Any suggestions, opinions?

Do we need this?

[Daniel Bohm]

I am using the SD633 now, but PD6 is too good to put it on the shelf. I am thinking of putting it on my cart again as a backup recorder or use it's preamps for some projects... anyway... it's a nice recorder and with less consumption (without dvd writer, only memory card) it can be good sometimes...

[Ruy Fialho]

Is this program going to be compatible with PD606?

Interested.

Why not leave the HD and replace the DVD Ram with a memory card?

Because I use a SSD.

[Sam Cousins]

Hi Daniel,

 

I'd be very interested to hear more about this project. I have two PD6s, one of which is still my primary recorder, the other has a busted DVDRAM drive so only gets used when I need more than 6 preamps. I love the direct outs, switchable power on the AUX I/O, the limiters, hardware switches instead of software etc. The main downside to using this machine is the constant changing and formatting of the discs, so if there's any way to use CF or SD I'd be a very happy man.

 

Other things to consider:

 

1. More accurate battery level indicator

2. Firewire recording while recording to disc

3. Bluetooth compatibility for a keyboard (hardware mod via usb port?)

 

Would love to hear more and help with testing, like I said I've got a spare PD6 gathering dust so can get to work straight away!

 

Keep in touch and well done!

 

Sam

 

[Daniel Bohm]

The program is for a computer that you use to copy the files coming from the pd6. 

 

It's possible to replace the dvd ram with a dvd ram emulator but it's too much work to make one and no use because it left us the problem of the 23 minutes limited recording time on a dvd ram disk. 

The only ones who could write a new firmware for the pd6 are the engineers at Fostex. 

 

I can only hack the machine. The hardware change is to make the hard drive removable or change the hard drive to a removable memory card and leave the dvd ram drive or remove the dvd ram drive (dvd ram eats power... maybe just an on/off switch...).

 

Once you plugged the internal drive directly into a pc or mac with a special program that we are working on you are able to download all data from it to your computer's hard drive and  you can find the wav files on the partitions and copy them into real useable folders onto any media. This means that now it's two steps. Once you plugged the internal drive into a computer you need to copy everything from it (all data) and second step is to scan for the partitions and the files. That's what we want to make easier in one step. 

 

I hope that it will be a solution to give a few more years of use to this lovely machine. 

 

I am thinking of the way how it should work. Only a software for mac or pc, or a hardware like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/NexToDi-ND2730-backup-official-reseller/dp/B005D7J0NS 

 

Should we just sell the software/hardware or should we also offer to make the modification on the pd6 to make it's hard drive removable?

 

I don't know if anyone would use this and would pay for this except me? It's a hard question 'cos it's so much work to make it a pro solution.

[zupahero]

Hi guys! 

I'm new by here. I became owner of old PD-6 w/o hard disk.

And I'm really interested in replacing optical RAM drive with CF or some other media.

The last posted message here was on 23 Dec 2014.

Is there any news about software and harware changes announce by Daniel Bohm?

Please let me know if you something about replacing original DVD-RAM with other media.

[Geraldo Ribeiro]

Hi Daniel

I still have a PD-6 and a PD-606 on the shelves and as posted they are very good recorders and serching a way to give them an extra life I saw your post.

What is the status of your work with them?

Did you modified yours and it is back to work?

 

Thanks a lot and all the best

 

Geraldo Ribeiro

[alidav]

I know that this is a very old thread, but I was curious if any update came lately. I have a pd6 in a case with not even the drive inside but this kind of upgrade would be great. As spare machine it would have a new life

[Alan Chong CC]

Glad to see PD6 and PD606 still have a topic here 😉

 

Alan Chong

[afewmoreyears]

On 9/25/2018 at 7:06 AM, alidav said:

I know that this is a very old thread, but I was curious if any update came lately. I have a pd6 in a case with not even the drive inside but this kind of upgrade would be great. As spare machine it would have a new life

As much as I liked the machines during their time, at this point, I would advise getting any number of newer more modern machines on the market for reasonable amounts of money to keep as a back up..

Just saying..

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

4 hours ago, afewmoreyears said:

As much as I liked the machines during their time, at this point, I would advise getting any number of newer more modern machines on the market for reasonable amounts of money to keep as a back up..

Just saying..

 

Can't disagree - but since the PD and along the same lines the HHB 2000 were such high spec and functional they both may have at least one new lease of life as decent quality mic preamps feeding AES inputs on a cart. That is - if you have one (and have this need).

 

J

[afewmoreyears]

Can't hurt as a project or simply for some fun tinkering, thats for sure...   

 

I owned the HHB and both the PD6 and PD606...  None of my machines ever failed me..  I liked them all...

 

But to be on a back up, with a client who's paying for quality audio with no problems or issues, and then having your backup for any reason fail to perform would be deadly... The shear age of those units does funny things.. a lot of moving parts... Why would you someone want to go there...

 

   To each their own for sure, and there is a possibility of your modern backup taking a shit.... but that chance I believe is much less. At the new price points for a used 788/633/Mix pre 3 or 6 or 10... I would definitely go that route guarding my own reputation. 

[PCMPro]

I know this is a rather old thread, but I have a good woring PD-6 without a DVD-RAM drive and with a CF card only.

 

I would like to have a second CF card ready for use, but the PD-6 restarts a few seconds after it recognized the "internal hard drive". I understand a hard drive or CF card needs to be UDF formatted, but also that did not do the trick.

 

I there anyone who knows how a can partition/format a CF card that it is accepted by the PD-6? I am a bit afraid to put the only working CF card into my Mac to try to see the partitioning scheme etc..

 

I am on a Mac and have an external USB CF card reader and I could get my hands on a Windows PC if necessary.

 

Thank you for any help.

 

[Philip Perkins]

It's none of my business, but I don't see you ending up with a recorder suitable for pro-recording work by repairing this machine to any extent.  If you like tinkering then go for it, but if you want to do professional recording I'd suggest getting a much more current tool for it.

[DanieldH]

 

9 hours ago, PCMPro said:

I am a bit afraid to put the only working CF card into my Mac to try to see the partitioning scheme etc..

Why ? What scenario are you afraid of?

9 hours ago, PCMPro said:

I could get my hands on a Windows PC if necessary

Would you be less afraid on a Windows PC and why?

 

If you are scared the OS or hardware or its firmware could "do something" to your recording media, how will you get the audio data out of the device, or do you just record and play back with that thing? 

To answer your approach for more CF cards, My skills and trust with data rescue are in the Linux camp and FOSS in computer forensics.

If you are faint of heard, make sure, your OS does not auto-mount or even use something like Cali Linux but any Linux would do (for me).
Then make a full image of the existing source card (, analyze it out of curiosity) and write it back on some new cards that is (down to the byte) not smaller than your source card! I'd likely use dd or ddrecue for that. If you do that, make sure that you understand the command and options you are placing and that you do not confuse source and target (in/out). 

 

Maybe you it would be just fine to clone the partitioning table, but I'd clone all, just to be safe, since there might be allocation data within the individual partitions.

 

If you have the chance, you could use a CF interface that is not connected via USB (but e.g. IDE, PCcard or the ATAPI interface you already have) so you can read out some S.M.A.R.T data, if existent, but that is nothing crucial. 
Do you know this blog entry? https://jh4all.de/?p=1756 

 

[PCMPro]

22 hours ago, DanieldH said:

 

Why ? What scenario are you afraid of?

Obviously of what you explained later: auto-mount and that my OS alters anything and renders the CF useless for the PD-6 thus rendering the PD-6 useless for me.

22 hours ago, DanieldH said:

Would you be less afraid on a Windows PC and why?

Of course not. I just wanted to say: if anybody suggests a Windows-only method I could manage.

22 hours ago, DanieldH said:

If you are scared the OS or hardware or its firmware could "do something" to your recording media, how will you get the audio data out of the device, or do you just record and play back with that thing?

I am just recording an playing back - fine for me as I have digital I/O and time to transfer in real time if necessary.

22 hours ago, DanieldH said:

Then make a full image of the existing source card (, analyze it out of curiosity) and write it back on some new cards that is (down to the byte) not smaller than your source card! I'd likely use dd or ddrecue for that. If you do that, make sure that you understand the command and options you are placing and that you do not confuse source and target (in/out). 

 

Maybe you it would be just fine to clone the partitioning table, but I'd clone all, just to be safe, since there might be allocation data within the individual partitions.

 

If you have the chance, you could use a CF interface that is not connected via USB (but e.g. IDE, PCcard or the ATAPI interface you already have) so you can read out some S.M.A.R.T data, if existent, but that is nothing crucial.

I am good at audio and digital music recordings, but this is too much computer stuff for me why I am posting my question here. As said: I have some Macs and my wife has a Windows PC I could use, but for everything else I would need a step-by-step instruction ...

 

22 hours ago, DanieldH said:

Do you know this blog entry? https://jh4all.de/?p=1756

Sure, thanks. We have been in contact a few times and also for this issue. He does not know.

[DanieldH]

A step by step instruction may be not what I or anyone could offer without the hardware you have in front of you, but in theory, this is less complex than you might think. 
You could boot some Live Linux on your Wifes Computer or maybe even on your Mac. Kali Linux offers a Live environment for Mac Silicon (Arm64) and should have no automount. Any other Linux (and likely MacOS and Windows too) have ways to disable automount.
I'd be surprised, that that particular partitioning scheme breaks when partitions are simply attempted to be mounted. When it is not gracefully unmounted is another story. Anyway, you know this special CF better than me.

 

In theory, a step by step looks like this: (no guarantees, research and verify every step before. I am not responsible)

(The copy processes will take quite a wile and to see some sort of progress, you might want to implement the pv method before that is not covered here. Since we use a pipe to a compressor for a 16GB card with likely mostly zeros on it, the status=progress option could end up in wrong outputs, but I am not sure)
Alternatively, here is a howto without compressor (likely created with AI support).

https://nodetwelve.com/cloning-any-automation-controller-storage-memory-compact-flash-ssd-and-cfast-cards/

A good German reference for dd is also https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/dd/

 

I'll assume you have automount off, and are root/superuser( indicated by the initial #).
Find out what block device the CF card is by:

# blkid

If you use this command without and with the CF card connected, it should show you what block device it is.
I'll assume it is /dev/sda and on the source CF card are 27 partitions, all called from /dev/sda1 to /dev/sda27.
 

You want to have a plan where to store the image file. Either the Live System allows for enough additional storage on the thumb drive it is on, or you need some other drive to store it to. In that case, mount that drive manually.

 

Change the directory to the one that space is mounted to.
 

cd /media/where/ever/that/may/be

Now create the image.

This should create a file named FostexCard.gz, read out all data from the CF inserted into the computer, compress the data stream and write it into the created file. 

# dd if=/dev/sda | gzip -c >FostexCard.gz

Take the source CF out of the Computer and insert the target CF.  

(Check, if the target is still /dev/sda like the source was with blkid)

Read out the image file, uncompress it and dump the data on the target.

# gzip -dc FostexCard.gz | dd of=/dev/sda

Put the target into the PD-6
Enjoy.